What is Special Education?

Special education is education that is individually tailored to meet the unique needs of a student that result from his or her disability. Special education is provided free of charge by public schools under Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

Special Education May Be:

• An individulized education curriculum that is different from same age peers who do not have disabilities 
• The same curriculum but includes accommodations and modifications
• A combination of both

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) definition of Special Education:

Special education means specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including—

(i) Instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and

(ii) Instruction in physical education.

Minnesota has 13 categorical disabilities including:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
• Blind-Visually Impaired (BVI)
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH)
• Deaf-Blind (DB)
• Developmental Cognitive Disabilities (DCD)
• Developmental Delay (DD)
• Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD)
• Other Health Disabilities (OHD)
• Physically Impaired (PI)
• Severely Multiply Impaired (SMI)
• Specific Learning Disabilties (SLD)
• Speech or Language Impairments (SLI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)